SAMBO       

Sambo - also called "Sombo" or "Cambo" - as a martial art is a native to Russia, and folk style wrestling, but it also has a lot of foreign influences, such as Judo and Italian fencing techniques that are rooted in formation. Sambo is a hand-to-hand "grappling" combat system. Its name was derived from the Russian acronym CAMBO - meaning "self-defense without a weapon". This martial art was adopted and taught by the Russian military and police establishments to all military officials, secret agents, police, commandos, and border control personnel.

Vasili Oshchepkov, one of the founders of Sambo, was an expert in several different martial arts forms. He is credited with creating his own unique martial art by combing the teachings of European styles of wrestling and Italian fencing with parts of several traditional Japanese martial arts styles such as Judo. Vasili's teachings flourished under the Soviet regime and through political positioning it eventually became a part of every military members daily drill routines.

Although it was originally a single martial arts system, today Sambo has evolved into five generally recognized forms.

Freestyle Sambo - A uniquely American set of competitive Sambo rules created by the American Sambo Association (ASA) in 2004.